A Manchester United supporter convicted after \u201ctragedy chanting\u201d told a court he is \u201cashamed\u201d and hopes other fans \u201cthink twice\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Michael\u00a0Avery, 45, pleaded guilty to a public order offence at Manchester Magistrates\u2019 Court on Monday after making gestures related to the Hillsborough and Heysel stadium disasters at the FA Cup quarter-final between Manchester United and Liverpool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Avery, who was ordered to pay \u00a31,205 and given a three-year football banning order, told the court: \u201cI just want to reiterate that I\u2019m just deeply sorry and I really regret what I did. I\u2019m ashamed and embarrassed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEveryone that knows me has obviously felt this as well. It\u2019s just a difficult situation. I wish it never would have happened. I regret it terribly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI hope other people look on what\u2019s happened to me and think twice before they do anything at football games.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tess Kenyon, prosecuting, told the court the case involved \u201ctragedy chanting\u201d at the Old Trafford game on March 17, which was won 4-3 by Manchester United.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A video from an account on X, formerly known as Twitter, was played in which\u00a0Avery\u00a0could be seen putting his hand over his face with his fingers splayed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court heard the gesture was a reference to the Hillsborough disaster, in which 97 Liverpool fans died following a crush at the 1989 FA Cup semi-final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was also seen pushing with two hands, which the court was told was a reference to the Heysel stadium disaster, where 39 people died at a match between Juventus and Liverpool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The defendant, wearing a black long-sleeved polo-shirt, sat with his head down as the short video was played twice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ms Kenyon said: \u201cThe defendant\u2019s gestures are abusive in the context of what they denote and they were directed towards Liverpool fans at this football match.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Manchester United supporter convicted after \u201ctragedy chanting\u201d told a court he is \u201cashamed\u201d and hopes other fans \u201cthink twice\u201d. Michael\u00a0Avery, 45, pleaded guilty to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1654,"featured_media":17938,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4972],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n